Hi!
Does anyone out there use a Molecular Dynamics Phosphorimager or a
Fluorimager 575? Do you use it on a Macintosh based system? If so,
is the software that comes with it actually NIH-Image? The Company
call it MD-Image (!) but looking at the photographs of the Macs in the
official literature, for all intents and purposes the program seems
to be good-old NIH-Image. There is a little Microscope Icon, there
is a gray map which looks exactly like NIH and there is a results window
which looks identical too. The only thing missing from the product shot
which would clinch it is the LUT and toolbox.
The reason I ask this is two-fold. Firstly, how can MD justify what appears
to be marketing of a PD program (perhaps W. Rasband could clarify this) and
why do they feel it necessary to change the name? Secondly, MD are a highly
reputable company in the field of Molecular Biology and the use of NIH-Image
would represent a significant endorsement of the software specifically in
the area of gel analysis. This is important in that users of PD software
perforing increasingly complex and sophisticated tasks occasionally encounter
difficulty in demonstrating that the programs are up to the job. Those who
have used NIH-Image will know this is true and that the program sits along-
side a host of PD, Shareware and commercial software which performs the
not inconsiderable task of quantitative autorad. analysis in a more than
adequate and mathematically correct manner.
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| Nigel C. Eastmond | Email nce at rri.sari.ac.uk |
| Rowett Research Institute | Tel +44 244 712751 |
| Aberdeen | Fax +44 244 715349 |
| Scotland | |
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